IP Library Granted Patent US 9,634,054
Granted Patent B2
US 9,634,054 · App. 15/278,096 · Granted Apr 25, 2017

Solid-state image pickup device and method of driving the same

Inventor: Kazuyoshi Yamashita (Kanagawa, JP)
Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
H01L27/14641H01L27/1464H01L27/14621H01L27/14623H01L27/14627H01L27/14636H01L27/14645H04N5/378
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 9,634,054
App. No.
15/278,096
Granted
Apr 25, 2017
Kind
B2
Abstract

A solid-state image pickup device includes: a photoelectric conversion element including a charge accumulation region, the photoelectric conversion element performing photoelectric conversion on incident light and accumulating, in the charge accumulation region, electric charge obtained through the photoelectric conversion; a charge-voltage conversion element accumulating the electric charge obtained through the photoelectric conversion; and a charge accumulation element adjacent to the photoelectric conversion element, part or all of the charge accumulation element overlapping the charge accumulation region, and the charge accumulation element adding capacitance to capacitance of the charge-voltage conversion element.

Claims (19)

1. An image sensor, comprising:

a semiconductor substrate, including:

a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements, which includes at least a first photoelectric conversion element and a second photoelectric conversion element;

a charge-voltage conversion element, wherein the charge-voltage conversion element is shared by the first photoelectric conversion element and second photoelectric conversion element;

a first transfer transistor connected between the first photoelectric conversion element and the charge-voltage conversion element;

a second transfer transistor connected between the second photoelectric conversion element and the charge-voltage conversion element;

a first charge accumulation element, wherein at least a portion of the first charge accumulation element overlaps a charge accumulation region of the first photoelectric conversion element; and

a second charge accumulation element, wherein at least a portion of the second charge accumulation element overlaps a charge accumulation region of the second photoelectric conversion element,

wherein each of the plurality of photoelectric conversion elements is configured to receive light entered from a first surface of the semiconductor substrate, and

wherein the first and second charge accumulation elements are disposed on a second surface of the semiconductor substrate, the second surface is opposed to the first surface.

2. The image sensor of claim 1 , further comprising:

a wiring layer,

wherein the image sensor is a back illumination type image sensor in which the first photoelectric conversion element and the second photoelectric conversion element are provided between a light receiving surface of the semiconductor substrate and the wiring layer.

3. The image sensor of claim 2 , wherein the first charge accumulation element and the second charge accumulation element are part of the wiring layer.

4. The image sensor of claim 1 , further comprising a light shielding layer, wherein the first charge accumulation element and the second charge accumulation element are part of the light shielding layer.

5. The image sensor of claim 4 , wherein the first charge accumulation element is disposed between the light shielding layer and the first photoelectric conversion element, and wherein the second charge accumulation element is disposed between the light shielding layer and the second photoelectric conversion element.

6. The image sensor of claim 1 , wherein each of the first charge accumulation element and the second charge accumulation element includes a first electrode and a second electrode, wherein one of the first electrode and the second electrode is connected to a capacitance switch.

7. The image sensor of claim 1 , wherein the charge-voltage conversion element is a floating diffusion region, and wherein each of the first charge accumulation element and the second charge accumulation element is a capacitor.

8. The image sensor of claim 1 , wherein the image sensor is a front illumination type image sensor, wherein the first photoelectric conversion element is included in an image plane phase difference pixel, and wherein the first charge accumulation element operates as a light shielding layer with respect to the first photoelectric conversion element.

Priority Claims (1)
JP 2012-266002 · Dec 5, 2012 · national
Continuity (3)
Continuation 15156882 · May 17, 2016
Continuation 14079103 · Nov 13, 2013
Related Publication 20170018592A1 · Jan 19, 2017